Bulletin: Ratings On GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund Unaffected By Divestment Of Wollongong Central

MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 7, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today said that its ratings and outlook on Australia-based GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund (GWSCF; A-/Negative/) are unaffected by the fund's announcement to sell 100% of Wollongong Central shopping center. The proposed divestment is consistent with GWSCF's strategy to reweight its portfolio toward super-regional shopping centers. However, completion of the sale will increase the fund's exposure to Highpoint Shopping Centre to about 49% of its asset base. We expect the manager to moderate this Highpoint exposure over time. In addition, GWSCF is likely to use the sale proceeds to reduce gearing (debt-to-assets) to about 16.6% from 24.7%. These actions would be consistent with GWSCF's operating strategy and supportive of the rating.

...MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 7, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today said that its ratings and outlook on Australia-based GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund (GWSCF; A-/Negative/) are unaffected by the fund's announcement to sell 100% of Wollongong Central shopping center. The proposed divestment is consistent with GWSCF's strategy to reweight its portfolio toward super-regional shopping centers. However, completion of the sale will increase the fund's exposure to Highpoint Shopping Centre to about 49% of its asset base. We expect the manager to moderate this Highpoint exposure over time. In addition, GWSCF is likely to use the sale proceeds to reduce gearing (debt-to-assets) to about 16.6% from 24.7%. These actions would be consistent with GWSCF's operating strategy and supportive of the rating. The negative outlook reflects our expectation that the fund manager will seek to reduce its single-asset exposure over time, and that implementation of the fund's proposed capital management initiatives...

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